Google Plus features you didn't know about

Managed to grab a Google+ invite yet? If so, here's some features you may not know about...

It's been a few weeks now since Google+ was revealed, so while you've been scrambling for Google+ invites and finding out how Google+ works, you have no doubt been trying to work out if this really is the new Facebook in your life.

So you've checked out Circles, hung out at Hangouts and got to know Sparks a bit better, but there are probably some Google+ features that still remain untapped.

With our Google+ invite secured, we've spent some time with the 'social networking project' to find out a little more about the world of Google+.

Read below for our run-down of five Google+ features you may not know about, and then watch our video of Google+ explained.

1/ You can import your photos from Facebook

There are two ways of doing this. The first requires a Yahoo account, but the second option is a lot quicker (especially if you don’t have a Yahoo account). Download a program such as Pick&Zip, a free backup tool that allows you to download all your photos from Facebook into one single .zip file. Once you’ve done that, simply drag the photos you want into your browser and Google immediately uploads them for you. Picasa users meanwhile are being offered unlimited free storage for photos and videos via Google+ too.

2/ You can use NFC via Google+

The Google+ app launched for Android phones has a hidden NFC sharing feature. There’s one snag, it’ll only work with a Nexus S – as that’s the only phone with an NFC chip inside. If you do have one however, the app will read text content from an NFC tag which could be used to share location data, check-in data, or even bring people into a Huddle conversation.

3/ You can play games, and ask questions

Ok, so these two aren’t official yet, but inside the Google+ code are a number of features including “Google Games” and “Google Questions” – the former is likely to feature Zynga powered games thanks to Google’s $100 million investment, and the latter via the tech giant’s recent acquisition of Q&A service, Aardvark.

4/ Watch YouTube videos in real-time with friends

In Google+’s Hangouts section, you and up to ten people can group chat and watch YouTube videos simultaneously. Well, the group chat mutes everyone by default when the video starts, but there’s a Push to Talk button that allows you to talk over it, if you so wish.

5/ You can easily quit

One Facebook users will be familiar with – even after quitting Zuckerberg’s social network, friends can still invite you to events, tag you in photos or ask you to join groups. However, Google+, if you’ve had enough already completely erases all traces of you and lets you download all your data you stored on the social network.